When You Say Yes To Something, You're Saying No To Something Else
A Time Management Lesson I Learned Recently
It was the evening of July 29th when I sat down to review my month and plan for the next.
Doing this activity helps me see
the progress I am making and activities I could improve or delete,
the general mood I was in throughout the month, and
the self-limiting patterns I fell into.
As I finished reviewing my July, I knew my August would be one action-packed month professionally.
The 30-day atomic essay writing challenge of Ship 30 For 30 was due mid-August. And I know from personal experience that this daily writing challenge will suck the mental and physical energy out of me.
This meant that if I wanted to focus on Ship 30 For 30 AND not get overwhelmed by it, something from my daily routine had to take a backseat.
This something turned out to be Instagram.
30 days of essay writing = no Instagram for 30 days.
Now that I have gone through those 30 days, I have learned a lesson. This lesson is so common sense that it was uncommon to me. Here's what I learned -
When you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else.
You have to. Otherwise, you'll kill yourself under the weight of the infinite scrolling to-do list.
If I am saying yes to reading, I say no to Netflix.
If I say yes to spending time with my mother, I say no to the number of working hours I have that day.
If I say yes to creating my work, I say no to consuming others' work.
If I say yes to spending all my weekend with friends, I say no to some alone, recharging time.
If I say yes to over-working, I say no to under-living.
If I say yes to surviving, I say no to living.
If I say yes to others (all the time), I say no to myself (for life).
This is one of the reasons why we feel so exhausted all the time. Because we are trying to fit everything in this one 24-hour window.
We can't and shouldn't try to do it all simultaneously.
You can't keep adding tasks, projects and errands on your plate and hope to maintain the same output level in everything you do.
When something becomes your top priority at the present moment, the rest goes on the back burner.
Post-Ship 30 For 30, I am using Twitter on trial to see if it's for me.
I am posting at least one niche-specific post every day there. That doesn't sound like a lot, but I have other writing jobs to do as well. So this Twitter thing is time and energy-consuming for me.
(Note: Also, I am finding Twitter gives out very negative vibes; therefore, it's also emotionally draining for Empath-INFJ me.)
Therefore, my thrice-a-week posting schedule on Medium and Substack had to become a twice-a-week affair.
That's the only way I could do all the activities I want to do and not overwhelm myself or, worse, burn out.
Moral of the story -
When you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else.
